This invention relates to a camera having an internal data imprinting device. More particularly, the invention involves a camera capable of taking pictures in both a full size format and a panorama size format wherein each format has a distinct data size and data position upon a film.
Embodiments of cameras having data imprinting devices have employed fixed position systems wherein a size of a data image remained constant regardless of a format mode selected. In such systems the light path is fixed, for example, at a lower part of the film with the characters being imprinted in a center of a frame. Since the position of the data remained constant, data could not be imprinted within a framed area of a panorama size format picture.
Another embodiment of a camera with a data imprinting device, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 63-27823, employs an optical system having movable elements. The data imprinting device disclosed in this publication comprises a plurality of optical elements capable of moving to appropriate positions dependent upon a selected format. A first optical element is disposed at a first position in order to produce characters having full size format dimensions. A second optical element, preferably with a different enlargement, moves from a first position to a second position in order to imprint panorama size format data images which are smaller than those of the full size format. Thus, the two optical elements provide appropriate character sizes respectively. However, movement of the first and second optical elements necessitates increased system complexity and is prone to produce blurred data images due to inaccuracies in the positioning of the optical elements.